A member of St Kilda's losing 1913 Grand Final side, Ellis missed four years of league football because of the First World War. He served in the Army from October 1916.

The defender returned to the league with Melbourne in 1920 but played just one game. He had not played any football since his career had ended for the first time and the end of 1915.

Seven years after his VFL career ended he made his cricketing debut for Victoria aged 36. After scoring just one in his first innings he made a century in the second. He played for Victoria across the 1928/29 and 1929/30 Sheffield Shield seasons for a batting average of 29.58.